Balarampur: Continuing poll campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that counterpart Mamata Banerjee has been forced to do 'Chandi Path' publicly and visit temples because people have a changed mindset after the saffron party came to power at the Centre.
Speaking at an election rally at Balarampur in the Purulia district, Yogi Adityanath said that a sect of people was created before BJP formed government at the Centre in 2014. These people believed that even visiting temples would pose a threat to their secular image, he alleged.
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"A change has come... Even Mamata didi has started visiting temples and taken to 'Chandi Path'. Isn't this a change? This is new India. Each and every person has to go to God,” he said.
The Uttar Pradesh CM also mentioned Rahul Gandhi in his critique.
"Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also goes to temple during election time. And a priest had to tell him to sit in a correct posture when he (Rahul Gandhi) went there," he claimed.
Urging the people to vote for the BJP, CM Adityanath pledged that if voted to power, BJP will punish those behind the "killing of party activists in the state".
"This is the land of (Swami) Vivekananda, Rabindranath (Tagore), Syama Prasad (Mookerjee) which has inspired the entire country. But now it is the land of TMC-promoted goons and 'tolabaaj'(extortionists). I think the days of Mamata didi's government are numbered. The people of the state have made up their minds in voting them out of power," he said.
West Bengal will undergo polling in eight phases beginning on March 27 and the votes will be counted on May 2.